CONNECTICUT  HS 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION^'"  '^'^ 


NEW  HAVEN,  CONR 


BULLETIN  170,  APRIL,  1912. 


The  Trade  in  Cotton  Seed 


The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Connect- 
icut who  apply   for  them,  and  to  others  as  far  as  the  editions  permit. 


THE  TRADE  IN  COTTON  SEED  MEAL. 

By  E.  H.  Jenkins. 

About  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  paid  for  cotton 
seed  meal  by  farmers  of  this  State  in  191 1.  Judging  by  present 
indications  as  much  or  more  will  be  paid  in  the  year  19 12.  Most 
of  this  meal  is  used  as  a  fertilizer. 

By  the  work  of  this  Station,  both  in  the  laboratory  and  in  its 
dealing's  with  the  trade,  it  has  been  made  possible  for  the  buyer 
to  assure  himself  of  the  quality  of  the  meal  he  buys  and,  if 
it  is  inferior,  to  receive  a  f^ir  rebate  on  the  price. 

It  is  therefore  his  own  fault  if  he  gets  other  than  a  "square 
deal"   in  the  buying  of  cotton  seed  meal. 

The  Composition  of  Cotton  Seed  Meal. 

The  cotton  seed  meal  sold  thus  far  in  Connecticut  this  Spring 
contains  (an  average  of  141  samples  representing  about  3,500 
tons)  6.52  per  cent,  of  nitrogen.  It  also  contains  about  3.15 
per  cent,  of  phosphoric  acid  and  1.9  per  cent,  of  potash.  The 
average  price,  depending  somewhat  on  quality  and  ranging  from 
$33  to  $26,  has  been  $30.42. 

But  the  color  has  ranged  from  bright  yellow  to  very  dark 
brown  and  the  percentage  of  nitrogen,  the  chief  valuable  element 
in  it,  from  7.60  to  5.27.  At  the  average  price  these  differences 
in  composition  mean  a  difference  to  the  farmer  of  about  7^ 
cents  a  pound  for  his  nitrogen. 

The  causes  of  this  wide  range  in  composition  are.  quality 
of  the  cotton  seed  itself,  more  or  less  impei'fect  removal  of  the 
hulls  and  oil  in  the  process  of  manufacture  and  in  some  cases 
carelessness  or  fraud  in  hulling  and  fraud  in  adding  ground 
hulls  to  the  meal. 

The  Present  State  of  the  Trade. 

The  following  is  in  substance  the  statement  of  the  wholesale 
dealers  in  meal.  Cotton  seed  meal  is  sold  to  dealers  in  this 
State  chiefly  by  commission  houses,  which  in  turn  buy  it  from 
large  and  small  mills  in  the  cotton-growing  region.     These  mills 


THE  TRADE  IN   COTTON  SEED   MEAL.  3 

affix  to  the  sacks  the  tags  suppHed  by  the  commission  houses  and 
ship  it  as  directed  to  purchaser  at  the  North. 

The  houses  which  sell  it  to  the  Connecticut  trade  never  see 
the  meal  or  have  it  in  their  possession.  As  to  its  quality  they 
rely  on  the  statements  of  the  mills  with  which  they  trade,  a  con- 
fidence which  frequently  appears  to  be  vain. 

As  a  result  the  guaranty  on  the  meal  represents  little  more 
than  a  somewhat  intelligent  guess  as  to  its  composition. 

The  System  of  Control. 

The  following  plan  has  been  gradually  worked  out  and  seems 
to  be  well  suited  to  meet  the  above  very  unsatisfactory  conditions 
of  trade,  which  must  be,  temporary. 

Each  of  the  large  dealers  in  the  parts  of  Connecticut  where 
meal  is  chiefly  used  as  a  fertilizer  draws  a  sample  from  at  least 
twenty  bags  in  each  car  lot.  He  must  do  it  in  the  way  prescribed 
by  the  Cotton  Seed  Crushers  Association,  for  otherwise  he  cannot 
sustain  a  claim  for  shortage  based  on  the  analysis  of  this  sample. 
The  method  of  sampling  is  fair  to  all  parties. 

This  sample  is  divided  and  a  portion  of  it  sent  to  this  Station, 
with  the  number  of  the  car.  The  analysis  is  reported  both  to 
the  dealer  and  to  each  customer  whom  he  names  as  receiving 
meal  from  that  car.  This  often  makes  it  necessary  for  the 
Station  to  prepare  and  mail  half  a  dozen  reports  of  a  single 
analysis. 

In  case  the  percentage  of  nitrogen  found  by  the  Station  falls 
below  what  is  guaranteed  by  more  than  one  or  two-tenths  per 
cent.,  the  Connecticut  dealer  sends  his  bill  to  the  shipper  or 
commission  man  for  a  rebate,  the  terms  of  which  have  been  agreed 
upon  and  which  in  some  cases  are  printed  on  the  tags. 

It  is  the  practice  of  the  leading  dealers  to  state  on  their  bills 
to  buyers  the  number  of  the  car  or  warehouse  number  of  the 
shipment,  and  this  should  always  be  done. 

Thus,  from  the  dealer  or  from  the  Station  the  buyer  can 
find  out  the  analysis  of  the  particular  lot  sold  him,  and  if  it 
is  below  the  guaranty  he  should  claim  his  rebate  from  the 
Connecticut  dealer,  who  will  in  any  case  get  it  from  the  commis- 
sion house  whether  his  customers  call  for  their  share  of  it  or  not. 

He  may  also,  if  he  chooses,  send  a  sample  of  his  purchase  to 
the  Station  for  analysis.  , 


4  THE  TRADE  IN   COTTON   SEED   MEAL. 

If  he  does  this  he  must  bear  in  mind  that  proper  sampHng  is 
no  less  important  than  accurate  analysis,  and  that  careless  sam- 
pling- makes  the  analysis  worse  than  useless.  The  seller  will  not 
and  should  not  accept  an  analysis  unless  he  has  proof  that  the 
sample  was  properly  drawn.  At  least  twenty  bags  should  be 
opened  in  every  car  lot,  and  about  a  pint  taken  from  each  by 
thrusting  the  hand  or  a  cup  down  into  the  meal.  These  samples 
should  then  be  mixed  carefully,  and  two  samples  drawn  from 
the  mixture,  one  to  be  sent  to  the  Station  and  the  other  held  for 
the  manufacturer  in  case  it  is  called  for.  The  one  who  samples 
should  be  prepared  to  make  affidavit  as  to  the  date.  No.  of  car, 
number  of  bags  opened,  etc.  The  sample  sent  to  the  Station 
should  be  fully  described  on  a  blank,  which  will  be  furnished  on 
application. 

This  information  should  be  given  to  the  Station  before  the 
analysis  is  undertaken,  for  the  Station  has  no  right  to  do  work 
with  state  funds  unless  it  has  some  assurance  that  the  work, 
when  done,  will  be  of  value  to  the  public.  Frequently  we  receive 
samples  with  no  marks  to  identify  them,  broken  packages  from 
which  a  part  or  all  the  sample  has  run  out  over  the  mail  matter, 
samples  quite  too  small  to  be  representative,  and  samples  not  of 
stock  delivered  in  the  state,  but  of  what  some  shipper  proposes 
to  supply.  These,  of  course,  are  worthless,  but  they  are  not 
positively  harmful,  whereas  a  sample  of  meal  actually  sold  in  the 
State,  which  is  apparently  all  right,  but  has  not  been  carefully 
drawn,  may  by  its  analysis  do  great  injustice  either  to  buyer  or 
seller. 

At  the  end  of  the  season  all  analyses  of  cotton  seed  meal  are 
tabulated  and  published  in  a  Station  report.  There  is  neither 
time,  money  nor  means  of  publishing  the  separate  analyses  as 
they  are  finished. 

But  the  work  of  the  Station  makes  it  easy  for  any  buyer  of 
cotton  seed  meal  to  protect  himself  from  loss  at  the  time  of  its 
purchase. 


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